


Childhood Aspirations

by scratchedagain



Category: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Genre: Fluff, Goofy - Freeform, Post-Hero
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-25 01:45:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9797024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scratchedagain/pseuds/scratchedagain
Summary: Artemis shares a rare happy childhood memory.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I have stories that are less sweet/goofy, I swear. But those take a while to write, so have this instead.

Luskan’s warehouses were as busy as ever as Artemis and Dahlia walked through the district, slowly making their way back to the docks proper. Even with the day growing late workers and crew were still hauling goods every which way, shouting and cursing as if it were a required function of the process, and the two made a game of guessing where some sailors’ turns of phrase might have originated. It occupied them until they found an almost-quiet spot where they both stopped to watch awhile, backs to a wall of crates, eyes out over the teeming crowd. 

Artemis glanced over at Dahlia as she gazed upon the dock workers, amused to see her give them far greater interest than the last time they’d been around the area together, years before. She’d hardly been a naive woman then, but now she looked like at everything with the eyes of an old hand. It took little time for her notice the assassin watching her, prompting her to fix him with a questioning look.

“A life on the sea seems to be suiting you quite well. How you found your true calling?” he asked, a teasing smile on his face. Dahlia smiled and gave him a shrug.

“I had never imagined it would be, but… I am satisfied. It is ever a challenge.” She leaned back as she spoke, eyes sparkling with pleasure and a happy grin on her face. “And you? Is the life of an assassin still your true calling?” Artemis shrugged.

“I have never actually thought of my profession in such terms. It is simply what I do.” 

“No? Has there never been a trade you’ve truly desired to work?” She aiming a teasing smirk at him then. “You’ve lived all your life along the coast, haven’t you? Has Artemis Entreri never dreamed of being a pirate?” He snorted and laughed, shaking his head at her. He’d never considered sailing of any kind a job that he might enjoy, for all that he handled sea travel as well as any sailor. He paused a moment though, a long-forgotten memory rising in his mind’s eye. His eyes grew almost wistful as he stared off into the past. Dahlia looked at him quizzically and nudged his arm for his attention.

“What is it?” He smiled.

“A memory. Of my youth. One of the few that were… pleasant.” Dahlia nodded, understanding how such memories might be few and far between for him. She turned to face him fully, smiled softly.

“Tell me of it? If you will?” Artemis looked at her a moment before nodding. He leaned back next to her and looked out around them as he recounted the tale, arms crossed.

“I was a child in Memnon. We didn’t often visit the larger markets - we were too poor- but sometimes I would sneak away from my home to wander them myself. Once, when I was very young, I found an old merchant there, selling birds he’d acquired in the jungles of Chult. You know of them, yes? Parrots and the like?” He looked to her for confirmation. She nodded, having traveled to Chult a handful of times in the past years. Many of the creatures living there were as beautiful as they were deadly, the birds no less than anything else. The ones Artemis was referring to were some of the small varieties that were safe enough to handle though, and were common pets among many who lived and traveled in the region.

“The streets I lived on were as dusty and miserable as they could be, nothing of value to them at all, so I was fascinated by the birds - they were so colorful! And they talked! There were other children there too, all standing about the cages. The merchant didn’t seem to mind us being there, like most would have. He talked to us, told us about the birds and how he’d caught them. What it was like to be a merchant, to travel the coast.” Artemis paused, staring off into the distance, his brows furrowed as if trying to remember more. He shook his head a moment later and continued.

“At some point I think he asked if any of us would be merchants or sailors when we came of age? I don’t remember what prompted it, though I do remember a girl saying she wanted to be a blacksmith. He thought that was wonderful! Said it was good to dream of such a future and he gave her a copper piece! Then he started asking all of us if we had dreams of what we might be. He gave every one a copper piece when they answered, which we all thought wondrous.” Dahlia was grinning as Artemis spoke - rarely had she seen him lose himself in a memory, and certainly never a pleasant one. He was remarkably animated and she had little difficulty seeing in him the small, excited child he must have been that day.

“I remember the boys beside me - I think they might have been brothers - said they wanted to be pirates.” He grinned at Dahlia then, who raised her fist in triumph.

“Wise boys!” She said as Artemis shook his head in amusement. He leaned back against the crates behind him and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

“I thought you might approve of that.” She smiled, gently nudged him.

“But what did little Artemis say? Not pirate, apparently.”

“No.” He grinned again as he continued. “The old man did ask if I too wanted to be a pirate, but no. I remember, I was so serious, I looked him directly in the eye and said, ‘I want to be a shark.’“ Dahlia nearly choked on her sudden laughter. It was several breathless moments before she could calm enough to speak, Artemis being no help whatsoever - he’d decided to illustrate his point by chomping his teeth at her, and the sight set off a new round of laughter until her stomach ached from the effort of trying to stop long enough to talk.

“Oh Artemis, I didn’t think that was a viable trade!” She said, wiping a tear from her eye. He gave her a wicked smirk.

“Apparently it was the best answer - he gave me three copper.” He sounded so proud of his younger self, Dahlia couldn’t help but hug him, laughing again as she thunked her head on his shoulder. He squeezed her gently, his own amusement quieter but no less genuine. She pulled away after a moment to look at him.

“I cannot imagine a more perfect answer coming from you. Really, what else would you be?”

“Well, obviously I did not succeed at that particular goal,” he answered wryly.

“Are you sure?” Dahlia gestured out at the people moving in and around the warehouses. “Sailors speak of sharks as the most frightening of predators, second only to the Kraken. Mysterious, powerful, and deadly - are these not the same traits of Artemis Entreri, the assassin?” He blinked in surprise, having never thought of himself in such an imaginative fashion. It was oddly fitting though - his name had once been spoken of with great fear, near reverence, by those who had known of him. He glanced back at Dahlia and frowned - she was smirking as she looked him over.

“What?” he asked. She pointed at his bare arm.

“You’re even the right color.” He scowled and reached out to jab her lightly in the stomach. She danced out of his reach with ease, quick-stepping away as Artemis continued to advance, a mischievous glint in his eye. Dahlia discovered why very shortly, as a gaggle of children suddenly sprinted across their path, not even pausing as they bounced into her and ran on, intent on their game. She scowled at them a bit, but brushed it off quickly to grin at Artemis.

“Do you think any of those children has plans to become a shark?” He cocked an eyebrow at her and pointed at her belt, where her coin pouch had been only a moment before.

“Perhaps. But I suspect at least one of them is already an acceptable thief.” She groaned and cursed in the general direction the group had gone before turning to fix Artemis with a mock glare. He gave her an innocent smile, arms wide, and asked, “How was I to know their game?” Dahlia rolled her eyes.

“You are a terrible liar and I am going back to my ship now,” she said, turning smartly and walking away. Artemis moved quickly to catch up to her, leaning in to speak as they wove through the crowds.

“I resent that - I am an excellent liar when I so desire.”

“And a surprisingly able poet as well, I see. Such a wide variety of skills you possess,” Artemis grimaced as Dahlia began counting out on her fingers. “Thief, assassin, adventurer, painter, musician, and now poet - do you plan to leave anything for the rest of us to do?” She finished with a broad wave of her hands, brows raised in indignation. Artemis went quiet a moment, thinking, before a cheeky glint appeared in his eyes, the corners of his mouth slowing turning up. Dahlia groaned, already knowing exactly what he was about to say. 

“You could be a shark.”

“I’m going to bite you for that.”

Artemis grinned at her, stepping back with his arms wide in challenge. She leapt at him. He dodged her, of course, and with that they were sprinting through the dock yard, clambering over workers and building alike. It was another hour before Dahlia finally returned to her ship, soaking wet from being shoved into the bay. She only smiled when her captain asked why she seemed so pleased to have been drenched, and went to change. 

Artemis refused to answer when Jarlaxle later asked why he had a bite mark across his palm.

**Author's Note:**

> I apparently had a similar response to this question when I was really little and was later deeply disappointed to learn that I could not, in fact, be a dinosaur.


End file.
